1992 Topps #942 Hector Fajardo

Hector Fajardo pitched in the Majors in 4 different years. He got called up to the Majors in 1991 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was traded to the Texas Rangers on August 30. He finished the year with them, spent 1992 in the minors, and played 1993-1995, the last 3 years of his career with them as well.

Hector only got 1 regular-issue Topps card, in the 1995 Topps set. He is missing cards in the 1991 Topps Traded, 1992 Topps, 1994 Topps, and 1996 Topps sets. Besides the 1992 Topps custom I made, I have also made a 1994 Topps custom of Hector.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy 

1992 Topps #925 Gary Green

Gary Green played in the Majors in 1986, and then again from 1989-1992. He played for the San Diego Padres in 1986 and 1989, the Texas Rangers in 1990 and 1991, and finished his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1992.

Gary actually got a Topps card way back in 1985, since he was part of the 1984 US Olympic baseball team. His only other Topps card came in the 1991 set. He is missing cards from the 1987, 1990, and 1993 Topps sets after I made his 1992 Topps custom.

I have a lot of card projects going on right now. I am making some customs for 2 different people, working on getting coaches/managers/stadiums completed for the 2018 Topps checklist, and also still plugging away at the 1998 Topps set. Hopefully things will slow down pretty soon, and I'll be able to knock out a bunch of customs in the '98 set. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #912 John Russell

It's been awhile, but here is the next card in my custom 1992 Topps set, #912, John Russell. John came up to the Majors in 1984 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and stayed with them until the 1989 season. In 1989, he played with the Atlanta Braves, then finished out his career with the Texas Rangers from 1990-1993.  After his career, John coached with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2003-2005, was their manager from 2008-2010, and has been a coach for the Baltimore Orioles from 2011 to now.

John got his first Topps card in the 1986 set. He got into the 1987 and 1988 set, and was left off of the 1989 and 1990 regular set. He appeared in the 1990 Traded set as a Brave, and got his final Topps card in the 1991 set. He is missing cards from the 1985 set, the 1989 and 1990 set, and 1992-1994 sets as a player. He is missing coach or manager cards from the 2004-2006, 2009-2018 sets (unless Topps somehow surprises me and adds coach cards to the '18 set. This 1992 Topps custom takes one card off of the list. Recently, I completed the 1994 Topps set, and that means John also has his sunset card done. Here is his final Topps card as a player.

I've been working on the 1983 Topps set lately at my other blog, and have finished the checklist and am a little over 1/3 of the way done with the set. I also am working on finishing the '97, '98, and '00 checklists, and once that is done, I am going to try to make ones for the '86-'88 sets. I also have been posting on the Facebook custom cards page, which has really turned out to be something great.

Thanks for checking out my latest '92 custom. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #908 Mario Diaz

It has been forever since I've posted a new card, so here's the latest 1992 Topps custom I've made. Mario Diaz played in the Majors from 1987-1995.  He played for the Seattle Mariners from 1987-1989, the New York Mets in 1990, the Texas Rangers from 1991-1993, and the Florida Marlins in 1994 and 1995.

Mario's first Topps card came in the 1989 set. He got in the 1990 set, and that was it as far as Topps cards. He is missing cards from the 1988, 1991, and 1993-1996 Topps sets to complete his career Topps run. I have been trying to work on New York Mets customs for a project lately, and I have actually made Mario's 1991 Topps card. 

Thanks for checking out the latest card in my 1992 Topps set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #904 Nick Capra

Nick Capra played in the Majors for 5 seasons. He played for the Texas Rangers in 1982, 1983, and 1985. He was with the Kansas City Royals in 1988, and finished his career with the Rangers in 1991. He came back to the Majors as a coach in 2017 with the Chicago White Sox.

Nick only got 1 card in a major set, which was his 1989 Fleer card. He needs Topps cards in the 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1989 Topps sets to complete his career Topps run as a playher, and needs, a 2017 Topps card to get him up to date as a coach.

I've been working on finishing checklists on my other blog. The 1989-1994 sets are done, as well as the 1996 set. I'll finish 1995 and 2001 next (they just need draft picks, team cards, and stadiums), then I have the big ones of 1999, 1998, 1997, and 2000 to do that need all of the players done. Looking forward to finally finishing some checklists and getting to making customs.  Thanks for checking out the latest card in my set.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #888 Terry Mathews

Terry Mathews pitched in the Bigs from 1991-1999. He pitched for the Texas Rangers from 1991-1992, then signed with the Florida Marlins. He played with them until the middle of '96, when he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched for them in 1997 and -998, and played his final season in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals. 

Terry only got into 1 base Topps set, the 1995 set. He got a 1992 Topps Debut card, and that was it for his Topps cards. He technically got into the 1992 Topps set, but as a checklist replacement in the ToppsGold set. John Ramos, Rod Beck, Brian Williams, Tony Perezchica, Terry McDaniel, and Mathews were chosen as replacements for checklist spots in the '92 ToppsGold set. For those cards, I used the Gold cards and tried to give the cards regular nameplates on the front and regular backs. Now Terry is just missing cards from the 1993, 1994, and 1996-2000 Topps sets. 

Work has finally slowed down, and things are finally getting somewhat back to normal at home. Baby Kyler got here on the 6th, so that kind of put things to a crawl on this blog, but I have been making templates and finalizing checklists for a good amount of the Topps sets from 1989-2001. 1989, 1990 and most of 2001 have the checklists done. 1991 is almost done. The 1989-1993 sets, 1996-1997 (basically) sets, and the 1999-2001 sets all have templates done for every team. I'm working on 1994, 1995, and 1998, and I will do templates for each team in the 1997 set, but there is a basic template that you can steal team logos from the 1996 set and add to. Slowly some of these Topps sets will get completed and I might just have to make more blogs like this one. Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

1992 Topps #884 John Barfield

John Barfield pitched 3 years in the Majors, all with the Rangers, from 1989-1991.
He only had 1 Topps card, from the 1991 set, during his career. He did appear in the 1990 Topps Debut set, and got into the '92 Stadium Club set. With this '92 Topps custom, John is just missing his 1990 Topps rookie card to complete his career Topps run.

I played softball on Monday, but we lost 25-3 and I went 0-2 with a fielders choice and a line out to 2nd with the bases loaded. I knew I should've probably stayed home, but didn't think it would be that bad. I have to get 1 hit in my next 5 ABs to hit .300, 2 for .400. It's doable. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #868 Barry Manuel

Barry Manuel was drafted out of LSU in 1987. He got his break in 1990 where he was the closer for the high-A Charlotte Rangers. He set a Florida State League record with 38 Saves (the record was tied by John Kelly of St. Petersburg in 1992 and R.A. Dickey of Charlotte in 1998). Manuel jumped to AAA Tulsa in 1991 and had 25 Saves before being called up to the Rangers. He pitched for Texas in 1992, then spent a few years in the minors before coming back to the Bigs in 1996 with the Expos. He spent '97 with the Mets, and pitched his final year in the Majors with the Diamondbacks in 1998.
Barry only appeared on 1 Topps set during his career, the 1992 Debut set. His only other 1992 card is his '92 Donruss issue. He only has a few other mainstream issues during his career, a '93 Pinnacle, '93 Score, a '97 Fleer, a '97 Ultra, and a '98 Pacific Online card. It should be noted that he has a cool '98 Tucson Sidewinders team issue card showing him with his 2 kids, one of which is a newborn. Here is a link to the card. This card gives Barry his rookie card, but he is 4 cards (1993, 1997, 1998, and 1999) away from a career Topps run.
I've been working on printing some of my customs out. So far, I've done a few checklists, and a few of a relative who plays in the minors. They've come out pretty well, and I think I'll work on some of my favorite players and then maybe work on printing out the '92 Topps set. Thanks for checking out the latest card.
-Jeremy

1992 Topps #866 Mike Stanley

I don't know how Mike Stanley didn't get into the '92 Topps set. Rangers catchers Ivan Rodriguez and Geno Petralli got into it, and Stanley was a solid #2 catcher at that point, who would start to post some 20+ Home Run seasons in the coming years. 

Mike began his Major League career in 1986 with the Rangers. He went to the Yankees in 1992 and stayed with them through 1995. He spent 1996 and the first part of 1997 with the Red Sox before going back to the Yankees. The first part of 1998 was spent with the Blue Jays, and then it was back to the Red Sox. Stanley played with them again in 1999, before finishing his career with the Oakland A's in 2001. He spent the 2002 season with the Red Sox as their bench coach before resigning to spend more time with his family. 

Mike appeared on many Topps cards during his career, only missing cards in the '92 set (got it!), the 1998 set, and the 1999 set. Unlike many players, he actually got a sunset card (2001). It should be noted that he got All-Star subset cards in the '94 and '95 sets.  He is also missing a coach card in the 2003 set. I think I'm going to go back on previous posts (and ones from my other blog), and add them to my growing list of cards that Topps missed out on making. From there, I will start slowly making them on my other blog. 

I'll have a little free time tomorrow morning to work on customs. Maybe I'll even do the '92 Scott Brosius to finally finish the set for real. Thanks for checking out the latest card in the '92 Topps set.

-Jeremy

1992 Topps Chad Kreuter

Chad Kreuter is the next card in my attempt to complete the 1992 Topps set. Chad had appeared on the '89 and '90 Topps sets to this point, but was left off of the '91 and '92 sets. He would get cards from '93-'95, then none again from '96-'99. He got cards for the next 3 years, and then was left off of what would've been his final 2 Topps cards in 2003 and 2004.

I think if Chad would've got a little more playing time in '91 he could've made the '92 set, but Ivan Rodriguez and Geno Petralli were in the fold, so it was kind of hard for him to get playing time that year. He got a decent amount of At Bats with the Tigers the next few years, as well as during his time with the Dodgers, and what do you know, he got cards for those seasons. I think Chad was just a classic case of Topps putting players who were starters or received more than 100 At Bats on most of their cards.

I've been working on backs a good deal, and am almost finished with every card on the first checklist (793-940). Not much if you consider the number of cards in the rest of the set (once I hit card 940, I will have 427 more to go), but it is a small dent and it's nice to complete a goal, and doing every card on a checklist front and back is no small project. I've learned a lot about some of these lesser known players that Topps didn't include in the set, and Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, and Google (for pictures) have been invaluable resources in this project. If you ever decide to try your hand at making customs, these resources as well as a good photo editing program should be basically all you need.

Thanks for checking out the latest 1992 Topps card in my set.
-Jeremy